8.3 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Impoverished priest Harihar, dreaming of a better life for himself and his family, leaves his rural Bengal village in search of work. Alone, his wife, Sarbajaya, looks after her rebellious daughter, Durga, young son, Apu, and Harihar's elderly aunt, Indir. The children enjoy the small pleasures of their difficult life, while their parents suffer the daily indignities heaped upon them.
Starring: Kanu Bannerjee, Karuna Bannerjee, Chunibala Devi, Uma Das Gupta, Subir BanerjeeDrama | 100% |
Foreign | 100% |
Video codec: HEVC / H.265
Video resolution: 4K (2160p)
Aspect ratio: 1.37:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
Bengali: LPCM Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
4K Ultra HD
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Satyajit Ray's "Pather Panchali" (1955) arrives on 4K Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the release include recent interviews with actors Shampa Srivastava and Soumitra Chatterjee; recent interview with Satyajit Ray's camera operator Soumendu Roy; excerpts from the documentary film "The Song of the Little Road"; and more. In Bengali, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.
Criterion's The Apu Trilogy box set contains 4K Blu-ray and Blu-ray copies of Pather Panchali, Aparajito, and Apur Sansar. The 4K Blu-ray discs are Region-Free. However, the Blu-ray discs are Region-A "locked".
The Apu Trilogy made its high-definition debut with this release in 2015. The 4K Blu-ray box set offers native presentations of the same 4K restorations of the three films that were introduced in the Blu-ray box set. These presentations are not graded with Dolby Vision or HDR.
Even though some very small inherited limitations remain -- which mostly affect density and sharpness/clarity -- I think that the three films in the The Apu Trilogy look sensational now. To be honest, my previous experiences with these films were such that before they were restored, I did not think that they can have proper presentations. Why? Because all DVD releases that I had seen were sourced from very weak elements, and because there were never any major efforts to properly restore them. I thought that perhaps there were no good surviving elements for them. So, when they were redone, the upgrade in quality was so dramatic that revisiting them was a borderline surreal experience.
So, how does Pather Panchali look in native 4K? And should you consider an upgrade if you already have the Blu-ray box set?
In native 4K, the entire film looks really, really good, which of course is hardly surprising. Also, given the inherited limitations I mentioned above, the dynamic range of the visuals is terrific, too. A lot of backgrounds that reveal different darker nuances and shadows, in particular, look incredibly well balanced, so I do not see how a Dolby Vision or HDR grade could have made a substantial difference. What about the move from 1080p to native 4K? Is there a significant upgrade in quality? Some visuals convey better detail and look sharper, but my overall impression is that the 1080p and native 4K presentations are quite similar. So, it would make sense to consider an upgrade only if you have a very large screen or have the ability to project, If you already have the Blu-ray box set, I think that by upscaling the 1080p presentation to 4K, you will more or less replicate the type of quality that the 4K Blu-ray release offers.
There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: Bengali LPCM 1.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.
The overall quality of the audio is very good. However, as I previously reported, there are some areas where the audio becomes somewhat thin and even. I have to speculate that this is probably how the soundtrack was recorded. Time might have left its mark as well. The English translation is excellent.
4K BLU-RAY DISC
The 4K restorations of the three films in The Apu Trilogy are incredible. This statement may seem like an exaggeration to someone that does not have any previous experience with them from the VHS and DVD eras and is now comparing them to other 4K restorations of classic and cult films, and I can understand very well why. However, a little over a decade ago I was genuinely skeptical that these films can be properly restored because they always looked very, very poor on DVD and there were speculations that good elements for them no longer exist. Now, we have them beautifully restored in 4K and available on 4K Blu-ray, which is amazing. If you do not have The Apu Trilogy, this box set should be on your radar because it offers definitive presentations of the three films. If you already have the previous box set, I think that you should consider an upgrade only if you have a very high-end system or like to project. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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